Chapter 4: History.
It was horrible.
The pain to see the one you love suffer.
What could I do, to make it stop?
I could only watch. Useless…
It was 3 days after that wonderful picnic, when it happened. Naruto.
Minato and Kushina brought him to Jiraiya when they saw something appear on him. What is this?
There was something orange on the back of Naruto's right shoulder, much like a curse seal, but how could this have happened?
"Sensei, what is this?" Minato has never looked so afraid in his life.
"Calm down, Minato." Jiraiya crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "For one thing, I don't know what that thing is." He peered at it, tracing the outline of it with his index finger, Naruto flinched at the gesture. It was the shape of a one-tailed orange flame. It was very similar to the one on Kakashi's arm, yet this has a lighter color.
"What could it mean?" Kushina blurted out.
"I don't know, but what I do know is we should figure out what it is, and fast." Jiraiya was more serious than before. Naruto scratched his seal and proceeded to yawn.
"We should ask the Sandaime." Jiraiya said.
A worried and confused look seems to overtake Minato and Kushina's face.
--
A bit later; Hokage's Office.
"This seems to be a predicament" The Sandaime Hokage let out smoke from his pipe, while staring out the window with one hand on his back, as always.
He took a deep sigh and faced his student and the other Hokage.
"Quite honestly, after you're explanation, I could only come up with one possible theory." He smoked his pipe again.
Minato and Jiraiya were shocked that the man has thought of something so fast, well he wouldn't be known as the wisest man in Konoha if he didn't have a theory.
"Well?" Jiraiya impatiently said. The Sandaime smiled to himself under his hat.
"Kekkei Genkai."
"Kek...kei… Gen…kai…?" Minato analyzed. "But… we have no blood line limit!" He screamed.
"Hush, Minato." He took out his pipe. "There are certain things a Namikaze could possess, if you remember…"
"Hn!" his face in realization. He remembers now. "But… that's impossible! No one has been hit by that since I could remember! It's considered dead!" He explained, apparently not wanting to accept this fact.
"Hey Hey Hey, what's going on!!!" Immature Jiraiya, he clearly had no clue what was going on.
"But… that's… impossible…" Minato's voice was calmer, yet he was more and more unable to accept it.
"Minato." Jiraiya put his hand on his shoulder. "What's with that?" He eagerly asked.
"Sensei… A Namikaze, has blood line limits. Yet, we thought it died already. Since its generation pattern was too scattered."
"He and his father worked hard to figure the sole pattern of the next generation who will receive the next seal, yet… It was very vague and they gave up on it years before his death." The Sandaime explained, while Minato's expression changed into a cold and angry one.
Jiraiya instinctively wriggled Minato's shoulder, as a sign of telling his student to be strong. Minato loved his father very much, yet much to his dismay, he died before he could tell him he loved him. Dad…
"Well, you will need to study again the Namikaze scrolls. They've been untouched, maybe even unspoken of since your father's death. Put it to well use, son." The third said, cueing them to leave.
"Thank you." He closed the door, leaving Jiraiya and the Sandaime.
"Well, at least he doesn't waste time." The third said, letting out smoke from the pipe one last time.
--
Library: Restricted Area
Minato made his way to the genetics section when he saw a picture slid in between two files. He grabbed it and smiled at the sight. It was his father and himself when he was just a boy, about 10, he recalls.
This picture was taken on the roof our home, his friend got a brand new camera and just happened to see us working on our damaged roof then, and took a snapshot. He said to himself, apparently remembering almost every detail of that day.
I even had a bandage on my face `cause I hit myself with wood. Careless as ever, my father would say to me then. He smiled.
He tucked the picture in his pocket and began to look for N. Namikaze. He grabbed the red scroll and sat on a table across.
Hashoi Namikaze – seal appeared when he was eighteen, it was red in color and when he reached twenty, a second tail formed. When he died, there were no traces of the mark, it simply vanished.
Shiharu Namikaze – Hashoi's great granddaughter. Seal appeared when she was four, it was green and when she reached six, another appeared. Another appeared when she was twelve and when she was fourteen, the last one appeared. When she died at the age of thirty-four, it completely vanished.
Shahashi and Kihashi Namikaze – Shiharu's grandsons. Twins. They're curse marks are black (Shahashi) and White (Kihashi). Believed to be yin and yang. Only appeared once. When they were twenty-four.
Shohajou Namikaze – Shahashi's great grandson. Seal is yellow. Appeared when he was thirty-nine, yet only formed four times. His seal is most developed, and yet again, when he died, not a trace was left.
Minato closed the scroll. He saw the names of people that he had seen before and over and over, how was he to decipher this code? How was he supposed to save his son from a fate he knows he wouldn't be able to escape.
He set the scroll down on the table and his elbows as well, while his fingers massaged his forehead. This is one hell of a problem.
He left the library soon after, thanking the assisting personnel with a smile and wave, off he went home, leaving the assistant, starstruck.
--
Namikaze residence
He found Kushina asleep on the dining table and Naruto on the bed. He took off his overcoat and put it over his wife. He didn't want to wake her, yet he didn't want her cold either. He set down his Hitai-tae at the desk soon after.
He went to the kitchen and made some tea, peered into the den and saw that Kushina slowly woke up.
"Hey." She said, looking into his deep eyes.
"Hi." He smiled back. "Tea?" he offered his cup.
"Thanks." She stood up and walked to the kitchen.
"So, what did the third say?" she asked, while pouring some hot water in her cup.
"He thinks it's the Namikaze kekkei genkai." He looked at his cup. "Yet, it's quite different. I have to do some more research." He took a sip.
Kushina just smiled, it was going to be a hectic week. There is a summoning of the Kages in a bit, and Minato has volunteered to go, since the third was to prepare events for the upcoming Chunin exams. I guess it isn't easy being the wife of a Hokage, yet it is rewarding.
Notes: Okay, sorry took so long to update. But see, there are conflicting things in my schedule. Haha. Well, officially got my first hater. Lol. Well, whatever.
Okay, basically tells the Namikaze branch tree, and sorry if it's all OC's. Don't worry, I made this plot up, none of it is in the real plot of Masashi Kishimoto. Any questions? PM/Review. Thanks :)
Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's. ©
